UPDATE: According to Amanda Comak of the Washington Times, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said tonight that Johnson’s contract should be finalized “anytime now.”

3:53 PM:Whatever hangups there were in contract negotiations between manager Davey Johnson and the Nationals have apparently been just about settled, as Adam Kilgore of the Washington Postreports that the two sides are “real close” to an agreement.

According to Kilgore a new deal is expected to be announced at some point today, although no word yet on how long the contract will run and how much of a raise Johnson will get.

Johnson is technically still under contract to the Nationals as a “special advisor” to the front office, but as a manager he’s a free agent. Or at least a quasi-free agent, and the longer that’s been the case the more speculation there’s been that general manager Mike Rizzo was balking at Johnson’s demands.